Ads

Saturday January 2, 2016
NEW DELHI (BNA) A group of four to five gunmen attacked an Indian air force base near the border with Pakistan early Saturday (Jan 1), a top police official said, with fighting ongoing.
"The base came under attack from four to five terrorists at around 3:30 am. The gunfire is still going on," Kunwar Vijay Partap Singh, director general of police in Pathankot district in Punjab state told AFP.
"Two of the attackers are believed to be dead in the gunfight while the rest are holding out inside one of the buildings in the base," he said.
He added that there had been no damage to fighter planes at the base and that security forces were still trying to identify the attackers.

Tuesday, December 29, 2015
PESHAWAR (BNA) At least four Pak suspected militants were killed in military air strikes in the Rajgal areas of Khyber Agency's Tirah Valley close to the Pak-Afghan border on Tueday.
“Pakistan Air Force (PAF) jets struck hideouts of the militants in Tirah valley,” said a security source.
Six other militants were injured in the air strikes, the source added.
Khyber Agency and North Waziristan are among Pakistan’s seven semi-autonomous tribal districts near the Afghan border, rife with homegrown insurgents and foreign militants.
Read: Zarb-i-Azb: Phenomenal success achieved, says ISPR
The tribal area is off limits to journalists, making it difficult to verify the identity and the number of dead.
These areas have also been considered home to religious extremist organisations including Al Qaeda and the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
Military operations Zarb-i-Azb and the National Action Plan were launched against insurgents following attacks on Karachi's Jinnah International Airport and Peshawar's Army Public School in 2014.
Officials say nearly 3,400 militants have been killed since the launch of the latest offensive.
The number of attacks in Pakistan has fallen around 70 per cent this year, due to a combination of a military offensive against Taliban bases along the Afghan border and government initiatives to tackle militancy.

Tuesday, December 29, 2015
KARACHI (BNA) Pak Police and Rangers killed 696 suspects in different encounters in the metropolis during 2015 and the collective number of their personnel who fell in the line of duty during the same period is 95.
According to the data released by the Karachi police on Monday, a total of 1,577 encounters took place during 2015 and 544 suspected militants, gangsters, criminals, etc were killed.
The number of policemen who lost their lives in armed attacks so far is 83, while 89 were wounded in the outgoing year.
In their annual performance report, the Rangers said that in 69 ‘encounters’ a total of 152 “hardened criminals and terrorists” were killed during 2015. A spokesman for the paramilitary force said that 12 Rangers personnel lost their lives in armed attacks and 20 were wounded in different actions during the outgoing year.
The killings in encounters are marred by allegations of human rights abuses by the rights groups, which also consider such incidents ‘extrajudicial killings’.
However, the figures of the suspects killed in encounters and of the law-enforcers targeted in 2015 are notably less than the numbers of 2014.
In 2014, a total of 925 suspects were killed in such shootouts and 160 personnel of police and Rangers — 143 policemen and 17 Rangers — had fallen victim to targeted killing.
In the previous year, 701 suspects were killed in ‘encounters’ with police and 224 were gunned down in shootouts with the paramilitary Rangers.

Sunday, December 13, 2015
RAWALPINDI (BNA) Sharing successes achieved thus far since the inception of Operation Zarb-a-Azb 18 month ago, Pak DG ISPR Lt-Gen Asim Bajwa on Saturday said 3,400 terrorists including 183 ‘hardcore’ ones were killed so far.
In messages posted on Twitter, he said during the one and half years of the major military offensive launched against terrorists, phenomenal successes have been achieved.
Bajwa said support of the entire nation for its valiant armed forces and resolve expressed against terrorism after the Army Public School (APS) attack on December 16 last year had been the bed rock of the Operation Zarb-e-Azb.
Overall improvement in security and law and order situation was owed to the operation, said the DG ISPR, adding that festivities and national events were being celebrated and stability has been achieved through the operation.
“Last pockets close to Pak-Afghan border are being cleared. Terrorists’ backbone has broken. Main infrastructure has been dismantled. Nexus with sleeper cells largely disrupted. Intelligence based operations (IBOs) continue to burst remaining sleeper cells.”
The head of Pakistan Army’s media wing said a total of 837 terrorists hideouts were destroyed, adding that in total 13,200 IBOs carried out across the country, 21,193 terrorists were also arrested.
The DG ISPR however said that the success came at a heavy price as 488 valiant officers and men of Pakistan Army, FC KP and Balochistan and Rangers Sindh sacrificed their lives while 1,914 were injured during the operation.
He said a total of 142 cases were referred to 11 military courts established in line with the National Action Plan (NAP). 87 of these cases were still in process while 55 have been decided by the military courts, in which he added 31 hardcore terrorists were convicted.